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A new series of The Apprentice will be broadcast from May this year, Lord Sugar himself has revealed. Writing on social networking website Twitter yesterday, the Amstrad boss also confirmed a second extended series of the Junior Apprentice would be airing in the autumn on BBC One.

Lord Sugar also revealed details about the changes in the 2011 series of The Apprentice, with a new prize as previously reported by TellyMix.

Lord Sugar wrote: "next series of apprentice in May will end with winner starting a new business with me on a 50/50 basis where I inject £250k. [sic]"

Sugar also confirmed there would be another series of the show in 2012, but applications weren't yet open. He told one eager fan: "applications for 2012 main apprentice series wont be till June look out on bbc.co.uk/apprentice [sic]"